ment and public distresses; yet I could not abstain from renewing my old school boy's wish in a copy of verses to the same effect: Well then: I now do plainly see, This busy world and I shall ne'er agree, &c.* And I never then proposed to myself any other advantage from his majesty's happy restoration, but the getting into some moderately convenient retreat in the country, which I thought in that case I might easily have compassed, as well as some others, who with no greater probabilities or pretences, have arrived to extraordinary fortunes. But I had before written a shrewd prophecy against myself; and I think Apollo inspired me in the truth though not in the elegance of it. Thou neither great at court, nor in the war, Nor at the exchange shall be, nor at the wrangling bar, She spake, and all my years to come Took their unlucky doom. Their several ways of life let others chuse, With Fate what boots it to contend! Was but a lambent flame, * This little piece, called the Wish, is printed in that collection of his poems which was entitled, the Mistress. Johnson's Poets, v. 8. p. 29. And some small light it did dispense, But neither heat nor influence. No matter, Cowley; let proud Fortune see That thou canst her despise no less than she does thee. Let all her gifts the portion be Of folly, lust, and flattery, Fraud, extortion, calumny, Rebellion, and hypocrisy. Do thou not grieve nor blush to be, As all thy great forefathers were, from Homer down to Ben. * However, by the failing of the forces which I had expected, I did not quit the design I had resolved on; I cast myself into it à corps perdu, without making capitulations, or taking counsel of fortune. But God laughs at a man, who says to his soul, take thy ease. I met presently not ouly with many little impediments, but with so much sickness (a new misfortune to me) as would have spoiled the happiness of an emperor as well as mine; yet I do neither repent, nor alter my Non ego perfidum dixi sacramentum. Nothing shall separate me from a mistress, which I have loved so long, and have now at last married; although she neither has brought me a rich portion, nor yet lived so quietly with me as I hoped from her. course. *Meaning Ben Jonson, * *This is a line from the beautiful Ode of Horace addressed to Mæcenas, in which he vows not to survive his friend and patron. Nec vos dulcissima mundi Nomina, vos musæ, libertas, otia, libri, Hortique, sylvæque, animâ remanente, relinquam. You, of all names the sweetest and the best, But this is a very pretty ejaculation; because I have concluded all the other chapters with a copy of verses, I will maintain the humour to the last. * Since, dearest friend, 'tis your desire to see Let constant fires the winter's fury tame; Imitated from a beautiful Epigram of Martial, "Vitam quæ faciunt beatiorem," lib. 10. ep. 47. Alluding to the perpetual fire in the Temple of Cy bele, maintained by the Vestal Virgins, In the same weight prudence and innocence take, Let mirth and freedom make thy table good: At night, without wine's opium, let them sleep. Enjoy the present hour, be thankful for the past, EPITAPHIUM VIVI AUCTORIS. Martialis Lib. X. Ep. 96. Hic, o viator, sub lare parvulo, Couleius hic est conditus, hîc jacet, Sorte, supervacuâque vitâ. Non indecorâ pauperie nitens, Divitiis animosus hostis. Possis ut illum dicere mortuum; En terra jam num quantula sufficit ! Exempta sit curis, viator, Terra sit illa levis, precare. Hic sparge flores, sparge breves rosas, Nam vita gaudet mortua floribus, Herbisque odoratis corona Vatis adhuc cinerem calentem! * Ana, a word borrowed from medicine, meaning an equal quantity. |